Preview: GCW They Said It Couldn’t Be Done (2/16/19)

Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) is gearing up for its massive Collective gathering of shows over WrestleMania weekend, including Joey Janela’s Spring Break 3and Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, but they’re keeping the ball rolling with their second show of the year, with They Said It Couldn’t Be Done in their home of New Jersey. The Jersey-based promotion made great strides in taking the promotion national, with shows in Los Angeles and Chicago, and they’ll continue that success into 2019. It airs live this Saturday on Fite.tv.

Shane Mercer vs. Eli Everfly

Photo: GCW

A 12-year veteran of some intense battles, primarily with IWA Mid South, former IWA Mid South Heavyweight Champion Shane Mercer begun to work outside his normal regions to work with EVOLVE, Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) and even NXT in the past couple years. His opponent is a young man from California who is breaking out at a break-neck speed in the bizarre high flyer Eli Everfly. A standout in 2018 with Bar Wrestling, PCW ULTRA, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Everfly will be looking to make more of an impact on the East Coast this year and a strong start in GCW will secure that.

Jimmy Lloyd vs. Eric Ryan vs. Markus Crane

Photo: GCW

Hard hitting triple threat featuring three studs of the American hardcore scene. Jimmy Lloyd is the emerging star who has had an outstanding ascension to the upper tier of American hardcore following standout years with Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and now GCW. Eric Ryan is a hardboiled 12-year veteran of AIW, where he’s a former 2x AIW Absolute Champion, who has been getting increasingly rougher around the edges with more frequent appearances with GCW, CZW, H20 and Mexico’s Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU). A 10-year veteran and student of NXT’s Kassius Ohno, Markus Crane made his mark in IWA Mid South and All American Wrestling (AAW) in his formative years. But ever since 2016, he’s become a monster in GCW and he leaves carnage everywhere he goes.

Tony Deppen vs. Chris Dickinson

Photo: GCW

Both these men have big matches the night before in ICW New York, so they’ll most likely be coming in banged up. One of CHIKARA’s breakout stars of 2018, Tony Deppen found an equal breakout year in the opposite hard-hitting GCW as well. He’s facing hardcore legend Grim Reefer on Friday. EVOLVE and Beyond Wrestling veteran Chris Dickinson may be the new Independent Wrestling Champion coming in if he’s successful on Friday against Orange Cassidy, but he’ll be looking to win regardless against a young star looking to make a name for himself at Dickinson’s expense. This will be like two wounded junkyard dogs fighting to the death.

Matt Tremont vs. G-Raver

Photo: GCW

A couple of real war veterans who have shed a lot of blood on the battlefield. On one side, you have former GCW World Champion and 399-day CZW World Heavyweight Champion “Bulldozer” Matt Tremont that has been a juggernaut for the past decade. On the other, it’s an underground hardcore veteran in 12-year veteran G-Raver, who grew up in Vicious Outcast Wrestling (VOW) and Renegade Wrestling Alliance (RWA). In 2016, he joined GCW and CZW and has been expanding his repertoire as one of the new visable faces of American hardcore.

Jun Kasai vs. Alex Colon

Photo: GCW

Since 1998, Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS and Japanese hardcore icon Jun Kasai has been a massacre across Asia. Apart from FREEDOMS, he’s brought down bloody rains in Big Japan Wrestling (BJW), WRESTLE-1, and DDT Pro, and internationally with Mexico’s DTU and Germany’s Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw). The reigning and 4x FREEDOMS King of FREEDOM World Champion is also a former CZW World Junior Heavyweight Champion and DDT Extreme Champion. He returns to the USA for the first time since CZW’s 2014 Tournament of Death XIII and will be facing New Jersey’s own Alex Colon. Wrestling since 2007, Alex Colon is the reigning and 2x H20 Heavyweight Champion, who also won the DTU Alto Impact title, and 5x American Luchadore Champion in Rockstar Pro. Since 2017, he’s become a regular with GCW and will be looking to hold the ground for GCW on its and his home turf.

GCW World Championship: Nick Gage (c) vs. SHLAK

Photo: GCW

Nick Gage will have been GCW World Champion for 430 days when he walks into the ring with the monster known as SHLAK. He defeated Matt Tremont for the title in December of 2017 and has since defended against the likes of Homicide, Rickey Shane Page, Teddy Hart, John Wayne Murdoch, Pentagon Jr., Sabu, and Brody King. On Saturday, he puts it all on the line against one of the most brutal big men in the game, the monster SHLAK. Normally a tag team specialist of late with Markus Crane, SHLAK has had many wars as a singles competitor as well. He’ll be looking to avenge the last encounter between the two when Nick Gage defeated him after a street fight in IWA Mid South at The Justice Is Worth The Squeezelast October.

Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.

Jamie Greer is the Managing Editor and lead writer for Last Word on Pro Wrestling. A lifelong wrestling fan who started with the WWF in the early 80's, he now follows everything from the smallest indie to WWE. He's also written for WrestleZone, The Windsor Star, Windsor Independent and other publications. He lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, with his wife and son.